And now we have Shanghai Uncovered, a new blog, focusing specifically on food and drink in the greatest city in the world. I’ll be posting regular reviews of eateries across the city with mentions of any good deals, special promotions or other essential news.

And just like any good spin-off, there will be overlaps, so don’t be too surprised to see some previously posted reviews from here showing up over there. But of course, there will be lots of new material as well.

I hope you all enjoy the new blog (especially if you live in Shanghai). Please do let me know if you have any comments or suggestions or even places you want me to review and I’ll add it to the list.

If you like the blog, you can subscribe and you’ll receive every new post directly by email.

It may also be a vulnerability in the theme I was using which is why I have switched to a more standard WordPress theme for now. But the photo is one of my own (taken in the late afternoon when the light is perfect) which I’m quite proud of so I hope you like it!

The story was the fake Apple Store in Kunming, which started from a fairly anonymous (as in, not too many visitors) blog by an American blogger in Kunming. When I commented on her blog, having saw she got an average of 3-4 comments on each of her posts, I foolishly ticked the box that requested notification whenever anyone replies to the post. The story of course, went viral and got a million hits and around 900 comments so far, which meant my email inbox was just getting inundated with notifications which are normally easy to turn off, but somehow wasn’t this time. I even wrote to the blogger begging for her to remove my subscription to her post, but she wrote back saying she wasn’t able to. Usually there’s a very simple link at the bottom of each and every notification offering you the chance to unsubscribe, but there wasn’t.

That’s teach me to tick the notify me box. Never again!

The story has now got the attention of  Chinese netizens and the store in question has been receiving angry customers demanding refunds. I’m not sure if the store will survive after all this attention, the wrong kind of publicity (and of course, police have already shutdown two of the fake Kunming Apple Stores – thanks Wiseman). And to think it all started from an innocent blog post of an expat living in China. Am I jealous it wasn’t my blog? Well, given that my readership is dwindling, yeah, a bit!

Can you believe we’re already in the second half of 2011!

Pretty sad stats (above) showing that my blog has been losing readers steadily since a spike in March. I think I’m going to need some suggestions on how to revive the readership, or I’ll have to consider closing down the blog. So, any ideas other than more pictures of sexy young girls wearing very short dresses? Which posts are your favourites : the China experience stories, the party pics, the amusing news stories with WoAi’s comments added? Or just Caturday, everyday! I’m determined to stop the rot so the first target is to get July’s hit rate higher than June and bring back the upward trend.

On a more upbeat note, I’m looking forward to Nadal vs Murray in a few short hours. The chances are slim but nevertheless there is a chance we could see the first British man in a Wimbledon final since, erm, the 1930s! And of course tomorrow, we have an all “ova” women’s final with 2004 champion Maria SharpOVA playing Petra KvitOVA. I’m a bit more neutral on that match. And by that I mean I don’t really care who wins – women’s tennis puts me to sleep!

WoAi : Yes, I’ve been living in Shanghai for 6 years. I’m not a big fan of change, I like staying in my comfort zone.

Acquaintance : Oh my God, what star sign are you?

The whole internet has been awash with references to the 13th constellation, Ophiuchus. It’s been all over Facebook and Twitter and was apparently the number one ranked topic on Twitter last week, but if you’ve been hiding in a cave, basically what’s happened is that it has been revealed that due to shifts in the earth’s orbit, the zodiac as we know it is well, not as we know it. Without going in to the technical details, many people are finding that – shock, horror – they do not belong to the star sign they thought they did.

This isn’t actually news though. We’ve known this for years, it’s just that for some reason, the story has been circulating again and perhaps it’s the first time since the introduction of sites like Twitter and Facebook which is why the whole issue has taken over cyberspace.

But what is incredible is the affect it’s had on so many people : “OMG I’m a Gemini” and other similar status updates have been floating around, as though it’s a disaster of epic proportions. People, well, some people, are genuinely distraught and in a panic. They’re acting as though they’ve just been told they’re adopted or something. This to me is complete madness. Horoscopes are complete nonsense. Nothing more than a bit of fun, something to read in the paper on the way to work, perhaps. Not a guide to how you should live your life.

To quote my favourite author of the moment, Amy Chua from her shiny new book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother : “I don’t believe in astrology – and I think people that do have serious problems.” Those are her words, not mine, so don’t shoot the messenger!

If you’d like to check if you’re star sign is what you think it is, here’s the list of dates – dates overlap because of course the sun doesn’t move in to a new constellation at midnight:

Capricorn: Jan 20 – Feb 16
Aquarius: Feb 16 – Mar 11
Pisces: Mar 11 – Apr 18
Aries: Apr 18 – May 13
Taurus: May 13 – Jun 21
Gemini: Jun 21 – Jul 20
Cancer: Jul 20 – Aug 10
Leo: Aug 10 – Sept 16
Virgo: Sept 16 – Oct 30
Libra: Oct 30 – Nov 23
Scorpio: Nov 23 – Nov 29
Ophiuchus: Nov 29 – Dec 17
Sagittarius: Dec 17 – Jan 20

Of course, I may be more calm about this than most because my star sign remains the same. I’m still a Taurus. Phew!

Further reading : Your star sign just got rumbled

So anyway, last January, Paul Chambers – on hearing news that bad weather was grounding flights out of Robin Hood Airport – published a message on Twitter to a friend saying “Crap! Robin Hood airport is closed. You’ve got a week and a bit to get your shit together otherwise I’m blowing the airport sky high!”. He thought nothing of it until police officers came to his place of work and arrested him.

The fact that this happened is already somewhat alarming, but perhaps understandable in this day and age. However, I would have expected that after a brief investigation, the police would realise that Mr Chambers had no real intent to blow up anything and the case would be dropped. It wasn’t, he was convicted and his appeal to the high court was rejected as well.

There wasn’t enough evidence to convict Mr Chambers of making a credible bomb threat (thank goodness) but instead, the crown prosecution service used a law from 1930 that was originally created to protect female phone operators from nuisance calls.

Mr Chambers has lost his job and been left with thousands of pounds in fines and legal costs, but the good news is that there has been a huge amount of support coming from celebrities like Stephen Fry, offering to cover all his costs. And on top of that, hundreds of people on Twitter have shown support by defiantly repeating his original message and risking prosecution themselves.

To the police and crown prosecution I just have one simple message – I’m glad it’s not MY taxpayers money you’re wasting on what was a harmless joke. Common sense and a sense of humour seem to be lacking here. It shouldn’t be necessary but you can read a linguistic word by word analysis of the message which basically demonstrates clearly why this is obviously a joke and not a genuine menacing threat. There’s also a very good piece here on how humour is very English and something that’s ingrained in our culture. Perhaps not for much longer!

There have also been some joke tweets mocking the authorities, such as “Just bought a wicked new inflatable model of Robin Hood Airport. Now all I need to do is blow it up” which was one of my personal favourites.

WoAi with Shopgirl and Dingle.

So Shopgirl reached the ripe old age of 22 yesterday and held a party at the Barbie Store on Saturday night. Among the many guests were many of Shanghai’s blog community.

Shanghai food and fashion (but mostly food) blogger Beverly.

Blog reader Kevin came over to introduce himself – hi Kevin!

I never thought I’d be involved in a threesome with Dingle and Barbie, but life’s full of surprises

Happy 22nd Shopgirl, it’s all downhill from here, trust me!

I’m guessing it’s only a matter of time before iSpyShanghai and Dingle Speaks add a Twitter widget to their blogs too.  Just remember where you saw it first!

Andy, is that a tracksuit top you’re wearing?  Are you trying to cling on to your youth like all of us sad pathetic over 30s?

I should add that I am a very frequent customer of Sherpa’s and find their service to be among the best and most efficient I’ve encountered in Shanghai.  Keep up the good work girls!

PS The loser laowai tag is aimed at the American douchebag on the audio tape, NOT Mr Best!

Top commenters since this blog started.

For those interested, I have changed the setting from all comments to comments made in the last 30 days, which I personally believe is better than just starting again each month as it reflects the top commenters in recent weeks.

Congrats to Angie from Texas though for being by far the most prolific commenter in the last year or so with 290 comments, 50 more than the next highest sad person who needs to get a life reader.